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Raptor

ER/CORP/CRS/SE90/004 Ver. No.: 4.0 Copyright © 2008, Infosys Technologies Ltd.

Course Objectives

 To Introduce Flowchart Programming

– What is RAPTOR tool?
– Why RAPTOR ?
– History of RAPTOR
– How flowcharts are made with RAPTOR?

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Raptor - Introduction
RAPTOR - Rapid Algorithmic Prototyping Tool for Ordered Reasoning.

Uses :-
 Addresses shortcomings of syntactic difficulties and non-visual environments.
 Create algorithms by combining basic flowchart symbols.
 Run the created algorithms either step-by-step or continuous play mode.
 The environment visually displays the location of the currently executing flowchart symbol,
as well as the contents of all variables.

RAPTOR is a visual programming development environment based on flowcharts.

Flowchart is an important notation to represent computation in any problem solution.
It is a collection of connected graphic symbols, where each symbol represents a specific type
of instruction to be executed.
The connections between symbols determine the order in which instructions are executed.

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Why Raptor ??
 Our goal for teaching Problem Solving Techniques in Foundation Program, designed for fresh engineering
graduates, is to develop algorithmic approach for solving problems. To achieve this goal RAPTOR is being
used as an important tool.

 Our observation and experience suggests that, when students are learning to develop algorithms, they
very often spend more time dealing with issues of syntax than solving the problem. Additionally, the
textual nature of most programming environments works against the learning style of the majority of trainees.
RAPTOR is a flowchart-based programming environment, designed specifically to help learner, visualize
their algorithms and avoid syntactic baggage.

 The RAPTOR development environment minimizes the amount of syntax, learner must learn to write
correct program instructions.

 The RAPTOR development environment is visual. RAPTOR programs are diagrams that can be executed
one symbol at a time. This will help you follow the flow of instruction execution in RAPTOR programs.

 RAPTOR error messages are designed to be more readily understandable by beginning programmers.

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Raptor - History

• RAPTOR was originally developed by and for the US Air force Academy.

• Major work on RAPTOR is done by Dr. Martin Carlisle

• It is written with the combination of Ada, C# and C++, and runs in the .NET Framework.

• It is freely distributed as a service to the Computer Science Education Community.

• RAPTOR is now being used for Computer Science education in over 10 countries on at
least 4 continents.

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Working with Raptor

RAPTOR begins by opening a blank workspace with a start and end symbol. The user can
then add flowchart symbols corresponding to loops, selections, procedure calls, assignments,
inputs and outputs by selecting from the palette in the upper left corner and then inserting at
an appropriate point in the flowchart

Select the Symbol

or Statement from Palette

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 RAPTOR - Program Structure
 A RAPTOR program is a set of connected symbols that represent actions to be performed.
 The arrows that connect the symbols determine the order in which the actions are
performed.
When executing a RAPTOR program, you begin at the Start symbol and follow the arrows
to execute the program.
A RAPTOR program stops executing when the End symbol is reached.

The smallest RAPTOR program (which does nothing) is depicted below. By placing additional RAPTOR statements
between the Start and End symbols you can create meaningful RAPTOR programs.

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 RAPTOR – Symbol or Statements

The typical algorithm has three basic components:

INPUT – get the data values that are needed to accomplish the task.
PROCESSING – manipulate the data values to accomplish the task.
OUTPUT – display (or save) the values which provide a solution to the task.
RAPTOR has six (6) basic symbols :-

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Raptor – Symbol or Statements
Purpose Symbol Name Description

input statement Allow the user to enter data. Each data value is stored in a
variable.
INPUT

assignment Change the value of a variable using some type of

statement mathematical calculation.
PROCESSING

output statement Display (or save to a file) the value of a variable.

OUTPUT

Selection Checks a condition and selects the path to be executed.

Selection

Checks a condition and determines if a set of instructions

should be repeated.
Loop Within the set of instructions one instruction should make some
changes in such a way that at one time the condition may
Looping
become FALSE otherwise it may cause infinite execution of
statements inside the loop.
procedure or Sub Execute a group of instructions defined in the named procedure.
Chart call In some cases some of the procedure arguments (i.e.,
PROCESSING variables) will be changed by the procedure's instructions.

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Raptor – Components of Interface

Main RAPTOR Window

Execute Button

Flowchart Area
{ Create your Flowchart here }

Flowchart Symbols
{ Drag and drop the symbol
which you want }

Master Console Window

{ View your Results here }

View Intermediate
value of Variables

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Conclusion

 Studies estimate that between 75% and 83% of students are visual learners. Because of their
highly textual rather than visual nature, the use of either traditional programming languages or
pseudo-code provides a counter-intuitive framework for expressing algorithms to the majority of
students. RAPTOR is a very good tool that can help to overcome this barrier.

 RAPTOR provides a simple environment for learners to experiment with developing

algorithms.

 With RAPTOR, instructors can customize the environment and facilitate more interesting
exercises by adding to the built-in procedures. It will help to develop problem solving skills to
our trainees.

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 Thank You!!
Asjit Sodhi
asjit_sodhi@infosys.com

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